Wooden floor in kitchen?

[perfectstorm]

I really want an engineered wooden floor in our kitchen, but I have painful memories of the amount of maintenance a wooden worktop required when we had one a few years back. We are a splashy family around the sink, and we're getting a dog.

If we have it properly sealed, realistically how much work is it to clean without getting wet, and how resilient is it to spills that aren't wiped up that very second?

I suppose I'm asking: has anyone had a wooden floor in their kitchen and regretted it? I'd never advise anyone got a wooden surface, and I am worried that I'm basically committing to the same thing, but over tens of metres squared. (The kitchen is the largest room in the house, because it runs the full width at the back - we're going to pretty much live in it.)

We have Karndean parquet all downstairs and in the kitchen. Warm to walk on and very easy clean.

I have a hardwood floor, Tasmanian oak, in my kitchen. It's forty years old so needs re-sanding and sealing now. Easy to clean. Damp mop and a squeeze of Method floor cleaner with the lovely almond smell. Never ever ever steam mop, it makes hardwood floor-laying professionals shudder.

We have engineered oak. It’s fine. Never gets cold.
I don’t leave giant puddles on it, but it gets wiped with wet cloth daily around where 2 year old sits after every meal, damp mop as and when, and I use the method almond cleaner occasionally.
It’s easy to hoover and sweep.

I would never have tiles in family space. So hard if children fall, or things get dropped. We have in hallway only, and I hate waking on them without shoes.

We have karndean all through the ground floor and it’s brilliant

We have a solid wood floor and it's mopped once a week with no issues. It does get scratched but the scratches just blend in, then they're not noticeable.

We're wondering about this as new kitchen will run through into dining space. We were going to have tiles in kitchen and utility, then engineered wood in dining room, but think it would look weird as it's one space that runs into each other.

Wondering about a washing machine leak type incident and whether the wood would cope with that? We looked at some Amtico fake wood floors but it said they were solashproof rather than waterproof.

Joins can be difficult between different floor types. We have porcelain tiles from Porcelanosa downstairs except in two lounge areas and formal dining room which are engineered oak. I would never put this in my kitchen. It would be scratched by our dog and it is not suitable if you get a leak. The tiles we have a bomb proof and, with underfloor heating, they are not cold. My children didn’t get hurt by them! Wood is not forgiving either!

We have had an engineered wood floor for over 10 years. We have a dog and cat and it gets lots of wear and looks great. I’m lazy so it doesn’t even get cleaned regularly.

I’ve also had a solid oak work surface for the same period and it’s also been brilliant. Despite 3 messy DC and DH no problems.

We have engineered wood in our kitchen diner. Has been down for five years and still looks good. A few scratches here and there and a bit faded from the sun but that's to be expected. Has withstood several parties over the years!

My friend has a beautiful engineer wood floor in her kitchen/diner. It looks fabulous when hoovered and takes her slopping a mop around pretty well. prrsonslly I'd just use a damp mop but 💁🏻‍♀️

HOWEVER, her year old GS hates it and acts like a complete Nelly on it!! I don't blame him really as he does slide on it sometimes. I'm worried he's going to hurt himself , but she says he'll just have to learn!

so I'd be wary what you get if you're getting a dog.

I have floor boards sanded and varnished in the kitchen, it's ok. I'd rather have something like Karndean, when we can afford to do it.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I'm not massively house proud anyway - the odd scratch doesn't worry me - I just don't want it to look shredded within a year or two.

Can I ask what sealant people have chosen - oil, or a varnish/lacquer?

We had engineered oak in the kitchen in our last house - it was fine, but I did worry a bit about it getting wet. Our cat also had an undiagnosed (for a while) bladder condition and kept weeing in one particular spot for attention - it was really hard to clean and get rid of the smell, so that really put me off.

We are currently in the middle of creating a large kitchen/ diner/ family room in our new house and will be getting Quickstep laminate flooring. The top end of the range looks amazing, indistinguishable from wood, no more expensive and it’s waterproof - perfect!

We have a kitchen diner with an engineered oak floor. It's been down 9 years and still looks good. DH washes it once a week and we give it a sweep in between if needed. We have a dog and it's not an issue.

I'd definitely have one again

For hardwood, satin varnish. I have this elsewhere in the house.

We have had it for several years with no issues, including when the dishwasher leaked overnight. Ours came ready oiled.

I have bamboo. It’s much harder than oak. Plus it’s sustainable. Take a look

I had the same battle when doing our extebsion but I am so glad I decided on engineered oak. I have x3 kids, floor looks brand new still!! Best decision I made

kardean etc looks too fake for me

I have Amtico that looks like wood. It's pretty indestructible although was eye-wateringly expensive,

I wanted wood floorboards but our kitchen designer was insistent that grease would get into the little holes and dinks and we wouldn't be able to easily clean it. I'm guessing engineered wood may not have this problem.

I have a wooden floor - it was what was there beforehand.

It’s all fine except around the sink and dishwasher. This inevitably gets more worn.

It’s great for dropping things and them not smashing tho.

We have an oak floor throughout the majority of downstairs.

Warm, lovely to walk on, quick run over with Method wood cleaner and it looks great.

I would definitely not have wood again though because of the dog. It makes his life miserable, he's terrified of it. He's an older Border Collie.
I should have listened to the advice given by dog owning friends.

We're moving house and are having a mixture of tiling and rugs this time.

Have a good think about it before taking the plunge.

Use Karndean, it looks good and is far more durable, if you do use wood use solid wood not veneered ply.

Has anyone looked at the Howdens vinyl floors? We're probably getting our kitchen from there and saw the flooring in the showroom. It says it's 100% waterproof which is what we're looking for and came in various wood effects.

Of course, with the Howdens pricing structure it's hard to compare with others!

Thank you, that's all really helpful! Lots to consider.